Once Upon A Child

I love to read, I really, really, really love to read. Growing up my parents said I always had my nose in a book sometimes I would read by the light of the street light out my window after "lights out" - I know that's really dorky, but I just really love reading! So, reading was definitely something that I wanted to pass on to Connor. From the time he was in the womb I have been reading to him (poor kid had to suffer through the twilight series with me!) and everyday we read as many books as we can. In addition to reading, I love a good bargain! I have scoured "Neiman Marcus North" as my Granny calls the the junk store for the 10 for $1 deals and Once Upon A Child. I love that place for children's books! The other day they had buy 3 books get 1 free! Woo-hoo! I got the little man 6 hardcover books and a stuffed animal for $10! One of our favorite deals was this book - we love "Tails" and now "Dog" has become a favorite! You should see the boy's bookshelf, it's overflowing! Connor's FAVORITE book I found was a circa 1982 "Baby Faces" book. He seriously can't get enough of it. When I say that we read it 78 times a day I am serious, I could be UNDERestimating the number of times we read it! Look at the joy on his face in pictures 1 and 3...how could you not read the book so many times in a row? He was so excited to read it, he couldn't even wait to get dressed after his bath the other night! For a nerdy bookworm like my self that is a site of beauty to my eyes! I love that he has taken an interest in reading and I hope it is something that sticks with him. For now, we will read "Baby Faces" as many times a day as we can! Oh, Borders also has some great deals on books - I found quite a few books for $2.99!

Firefighter Stair Climb

You might remember my post last year about my awesome brother David, or as we know refer to him...Uncle Bubba. He likes it, he told me :) He is in school training to become a firefighter. He is finishing up his program and graduating this summer - there are a few of us flying out and attending, we can't wait! Then he will hopefully have a job fighting fires in a very safe part of St. Louis :) Anywhere would be lucky to have him, but we really have our fingers crossed that he choose St. Louis as we can't wait to have the whole family back together in the fine state of Missouri. Well, he is doing the Scott Firefighter Stair Climb again this year and he would be pleased as punch if anyone wanted to help support him in this endeavor! He has already raised $600 ($100 over his goal of $500!) but every little bit helps raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. For those of you who don't know - Leukemia hits very close to home for us, as our Dad kicked Leukemia in the butt.

I should have started with this, but here is a little background on the event...

"At 788 feet of vertical elevation, the Columbia Center (formerly Bank of America Tower) in downtown Seattle stands as the second tallest building west of the Mississippi. It takes 69 flights of stairs and 1,311 steps to reach the highly acclaimed observation deck overlooking the city.
The Scott Firefighter Stairclimb supports the mission of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, raising money through sponsorships, individual and department fundraising, and entry fees. In 2009, the event featured over 1,500 firefighters from 244 different departments and brought in a record $640,000 for blood-cancer research and patient services."

I wanted to share the details with you in case you would like to donate! Thank you in advance for helping support Uncle Bubba and blood and cancer research!

Want to Donate? Click Here! and then...

1. click on donate now

2. type in dave lawton

3. click on my name highlighted in blue and then you can donate.

Super Bowl Sunday/Weekend

We had a really nice little weekend at Casa de Granny D. We had some snow so we hung around the house and as a bit of a homebody, that suits me just fine! My mom and I ran a few errands, I filled some orders and we lounged. I had some fun taking pictures of Connor in his new favorite spot, the windowsill. I couldn't help but post this because I thought he looked a little too precious in his tie onesie :) He was just sitting in the windowsill sipping on his sippy cup! We went over to the Johnson's to watch the super bowl on Sunday night. It was really nice and I loved getting out of preparing the food, ha! I love to cook, but I also enjoy the occasional night off. This just made me chuckle, Connor and Koda man begging Aunt Jen for food. Are we sensing a theme here with us not feeding Connor enough!? The poor neglected little soul...
Watching the game with Dada, drinking a brewski! I mean...is this the picture I am going to see 20 years from now? Minus C sitting in Bj's lap! Ha! I kind of think my boys are precious. Do you love Connor's little football fleece jacket? It was a gift from Aunt Steph for Christmas, thanks for making me cute on super bowl Sunday Aunt Steph! Overall it was just a really nice weekend, I love all the time spent with my sweet family. We don't really have anything exciting on the agenda this weekend and that is just fine with us :) Does anyone have any fun plans for Valentine's day?

How Big is Connor?!

One of our new favorite toys are our stack able nesting blocks (Melissa and Doug, are you shocked?!) and we think they are pretty great! I am such a kid myself as I make Connor wait until I have counted and stacked all ten blocks before I will let him knock them over! Ha! He just gets so excited and then he will squat down and knock each one off individually that doesn't knock down with his initial hit. It is a little too funny! He is just at such a fun age, I love it. I love more than anything experiencing life through his eyes again, it is so precious. I hope everyone has a great Tuesday and it's warmer where you are than it is here!

Have You Seen Me?

*Update: Thank you Cortney - I am an idiot it is from the "just one year" line by Carters! I want to introduce you to Bunny, one of Connor's very, very best friends. I am not sure if you have noticed sweet bunny in recent pictures, but bunny is always around. Sweet Connor just loves his bunny and we think that it's pretty sweet. Bunny had been sitting on top of his dresser for no reason since he was born. One day C pointed to him so we gave him bunny and the rest is history! We are not sure who gave us bunny, but we would like to thank them! Bunny started out a really beautiful white color but with many months of love has turned a little dingy - but we think that makes him all the more appealing :) Since bunny is so loved, we have started to search for a new one (you can never have too many lovies!) and we are coming up empty! Bj found a blog dedicated to bunny and one on ebay for $100...

So, my friends I am asking you if you could keep an eye out for a white and brown the first years bunny. We want to get C another one should anything ever happen to bunny, but we can't find them anywhere! So, with Easter approaching if you see this sweet little bunny, would you mind picking up one or two? I will happily send you all the money it costs to buy and ship! Thanks in advance for keeping your eyes peeled! :)

Winner, Winner!

First of all, a HUGE thank you to everyone for commenting on my first "real" giveaway! I had so much fun reading all the comments and visiting your blogs :) I had so much fun doing this giveaway, I think I have another one up my sleeve! So, without further ado. My random number generator chose comment number 58...

Debbie Jackson!!

She said..." cute site........hi!"

Debbie, I will email you this afternoon for you address, congrats! Thanks again and be sure to check back for my next little giveaway :)

The Butterfly House!

Daddy and Connor took a field trip to the butterfly house last week and I am so behind, I am just posting it! Bj said Connor was a little unsure and liked the magic house better, but still had fun! We were saying we were thankful he didn't try to "catch" any of the butterfly's!
I thought this face was so funny - Bj said it was so hot and humid in there he had to take his coat off! They are pretty cute together, I really like watching my boys hang out together - I kind of like both of them :) Hope everyone had a great day, I am so glad tomorrow is Wednesday!